What a month!

I wanted to stop by and say "Hello" and let you know that I'm still alive and will begin updating again very soon.

My life over the last month has been a roller coaster and it seems I haven't had much time to do anything.

My grandpa passed away on July 28, after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 84, and had lived a full, long life, but it was still hard to say good-bye. I spent the two weeks after his death helping my grandma and mom with things like phone calls to social security, filing life insurance claims and getting thank you's done. In addition to all of that, I had been swamped at work with all the quarterly things that have to be done.

Then last week, just when I thought things would settle down a bit, my father-in-law called. He was frantic because my sister-in-law had just called to say she was having an emergency c-section. She was due on December 1st, so this was shocking news, of course. It seems she had HELLP syndrome, and was very grave. They took the baby to save her life and brought him by air ambulance to the area where DH and I live (they are about 2 hours away). So we rushed to the hospital to be there when the baby got there. We stayed off and on for several days until sister-in-law was feeling better and could get out to visit the baby.

She is doing so much better and baby Andrew is hanging tough. If you are the praying type and can spare a prayer for him and his family, it would be much appreciated. He is one week old tomorrow, but only would be only 25 1/2 weeks gestational age. He has a long, hard road ahead of him, but I feel good about his chances. The doctors and nurses who are caring for him seem to be the best.

So maybe the turmoil around here will settle down eventually...The boys head back to school next week and the new TV season is fast approaching. I'm looking forward to fall.

Fall Premiere Dates!!

Here are the dates for the 2007-2008 fall television premieres, as reported by TV Squad. This list includes all premieres that have been announced to date (new shows are in bold).

Thursday, August 30th

• Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (FOX)

Saturday, September 8th

• Cops (FOX)


• America's Most Wanted (FOX)

Tuesday, September 11th

• The Biggest Loser (NBC)

Thursday, September 13th

• KITCHEN NIGHTMARES (FOX)

Friday, September 14th

• NASHVILLE (FOX)

Saturday, September 15th

• MADtv (FOX)


• Talkshow with Spike Feresten (FOX)

For Grandpa

My grandpa was king of the corny poem.  He always wrote silly but very touching poetry.  When my oldest son was born, he typed a poem and framed it and that is something that I treasure to this day.  So in his honor, I wrote this silly little poem about him.  I think my brother is going to read it at the service for me.  :)

My grandpa was a great man

He loved us like only a grandpa can

He was sweet, and generous, and he was kind

All the things that, in a grandpa, one should find

His corny jokes always made me laugh

He was always there to take photographs

His camera was always around his neck

He didn't care if you looked a wreck

He showed me how to sneak French fries

So no one would be any more the wise

I remember he always wrote everything down

And sometimes he acted quite the clown

He wrote poems and stories when he could

And he carved us lots of things from wood

He researched all of our family's history

So that when we grew up, it wouldn't be such a mystery

Crossword puzzles were one of his favorite things

And he loved to go garage sale shopping

He had his faults, as all of us do

But he was good at being Grandpa, that much is true

I'll miss him so much now that he's gone

But I'm so glad to know that his suffering is done

My grandpa was a great man

I loved him like only a granddaughter can

I Just Got the Call

My grandpa passed away a short time ago.

I went with my mom to the hospital today and I am so glad I did.  He never knew I was there but I feel better that I went, especially now that he's gone.

Any good thoughts and/or prayers you can send my grandma's way are appreciated.  Thanks to all of you who have messaged me with kind words.  I really appreciate all of you!

I have the greatest friends - in real life and online.  (((hugs))) to all of you. 

I Feel Like I Should Be Doing Something

My grandpa is dying and I feel like I should be doing something, but I don't know what to do.

I can't motivate myself to do anything constructive in the house. I want to go to the hospital and at the same time I don't want to go to the hospital. Mom says he looks terrible and wouldn't even know I was there if I went but I feel a sense of obligation to go. I'm just not sure I can handle it emotionally if I go. I'm the type of person who likes to keep a handle on my emotions. I don't let them show very often. I don't think I could do that if I went up there.

The doctors say he probably won't last until Monday. We're starting to think about funeral arrangements. I need to buy The Pleaser some new dress shoes to wear to the service but I don't really want to tell him why. He knows that his "Peepaw" is very ill and will die soon but I don't want to dwell on it until I have to. He is a very sensitive, kind-hearted kid. This will be very hard on him.

Waiting for the inevitable is so hard. We've known this day would come for at least 2 years, maybe longer. We've expected it to come several times in just the last year alone but he always bounced back. He's a tough guy and a fighter, even though he is soft spoken, small and, now, frail man.

So I just continue to wait...